It is the usual practice in hotels and motels to change the sheets on a bed each day. Any blankets used on the bed are returned to the bed without cleaning. Each guest using the bed is then exposed to contamination from portions of the blanket which had been in contact with prior guests.
It is customary in making a bed to fold back the end of the upper sheet to cover the edge of the blanket. The blanket covering provided by the sheet is usually only temporary as the movement of the sleeping person is more times than not sufficient to expose the blanket to contact. The improved bed sheet of the present invention provides a pocket into which the edge of the blanket is placed. The pocket is deep enough to prevent the blanket from working loose during the night. The sleeping person is thereby protected from contact with previously used blankets and is provided with a more sanitary bed in which to sleep.
The most common sheet configuration in use on beds today is the use of a fitted sheet to cover the mattress, with a flat sheet used as an upper sheet. Fitted sheets usually have an elastic strip at each corner or a single continuous strip surrounding the open edge of the sheet. The elastic strips tend to cause the sheets to be bulky when stored. Also, the elastic is subject to breaking, both from being stretched in use and due to degredation from frequent exposure to hot soapy water. Once the elastic breaks, the sheet is no longer suitable for use.
Fitted sheets using elastic are also expensive to manufacture in view of the labor required to attach the elastic to the sheeting.
The bed sheet of the present invention uses no elastic and can be laid out, cut, and sewn using automatic equipment, thereby substantially reducing the cost of manufacture. The sheet can be folded into a flat compact form since no elastic is used, thereby saving storage space, and simplifying usage. Since only one type of sheet is used for both the top and bottom, problems in both storage and use are eliminated. The hotel or motel need only buy one type of sheet. Also, the maids no longer have to be concerned with having an equal number of fitted and flat sheets. By using the sheets of the present invention, the maid has to merely take two sheets for each bed without being concerned whether they are fitted or flat.